The Church's One Foundation - contemporary reworking of Samuel John Stone's hymn text

The Church's one foundation

Is Jesus Christ our God;

Become God’s new creation

By water and the Word.

God, give to us your vision

of healing from all strife

God, send us on your mission

To witness transformed life.

 

Now called from every nation,

As one throughout all the earth,

Our task is shared salvation,

One God, one faith, one birth;

One holy Name in blessing,

Share in one holy food,

And to one hope we’re pressing,

The mission of God’s good.

 

‘Mid scenes of war and dying

and climate’s groaning loud,

we pray to Spirit, crying

for life beyond the shroud;

As Church we rise to nourish,

communities to bless.

We long for heav’n to flourish.

We long for peace and rest.

 

Here, in this place, find union

With God, the Three-in-One,

Come, enter this communion

with those whose rest is won.

We seek the coming Kin-dom,

for justice to increase,

so all will live in freedom,

and all will know God’s peace.

Easter acknowledgement

EASTER ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

Co-developed with Rev Ellie Elia

——-

 

Earth and stars, waters and breeze

In this place, the place of the Dharug and Gundungurra peoples, we celebrate the connection between 

embodied life and spiritual fulfilment. 

As Easter people, we look upon the hills and valleys,

we see the love poured out upon this Land

by those who have cared for this place

since time beyond measure. 

As Easter people we honour the story 

of life, death and resurrection of the first peoples 

who long to honour the stories of dreaming. 

We bring ourselves respectfully to the traditional peoples of this land, praying in wonder and hope, 

that restoration and resurrection 

will become the reality of heaven in this place.

May Christ’s way of reconciliation and peace

show us how to walk gently upon this land

and with one another.

Sending Blessing of the Children of God

Go with fullness

Go with comfort

Live with richness in God’s land.

Go with justice

Go with mercy

See your God, so close at hand.

 

Child, with Christ, 

go work for peace.

In the struggle, 

do not cease.

Be blessed, made holy,

Sent by One – 

Creator, Spirit 

and the Son.

 

In you, 

may God’s blessing come.

With you, 

may God’s blessing come.

Through you, 

may God’s blessing come. 

Amen! Amen! Amen!

 

The above text is based on a reading of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5)

“Blessed are those who are poor in spirit:

the kin-dom of heaven is theirs. 4 Blessed are those who are mourning:

they will be consoled. 5 Blessed are those who are gentle:

they will inherit the land. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice:

they will have their fill. 7 Blessed are those who show mercy to others:

they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are those whose hearts are clean:

they will see God. 9 Blessed are those who work for peace:

they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted

because of their struggle for justice:

the kindom of heaven is theirs. 11

Rizpah

Rizpah...

Whose war takes my children from me?

Whose profit is paid for by lost generations?

Whose brutality leaves only a decaying vigil?

 

The days and nights between death and burial are long.

Yet, grief knows no measure.

The cells that knitted together inside my womb

Now disintegrate on our shared cloth of tears.

But, do not cry, my sons,

For my tears must be enough for you

Although they will never satisfy me.

I will carry your memory until I am forgotten

 

Prayer  –

We pray for those who grieve violence

For those who hold dead children in their arms

And for those who never receive remains

For those who search among the fallen

And those whose escape means never knowing

May those who grieve by comforted

 

We pray for those who perpetrate violence

For those who are are conscripted to wars

And for those who seek survival

For those who no longer remember tenderness of heart

And those who see monsters in the mirror

May those who wield swords choose plowshares

 

 

Truth-telling

formed of lies and deceptions:

Call us your children.

Cries for justice paint targets on our communities:

 

We pray:

For the persecutors, who reinforce privilege by dehumanizing those God loves

For the rich, who profit from labour practices that keep poor those God loves

For the powerful, whose identity is defined by superiority rather than humility

Have mercy, O God, restore dignity, worth, and humanity.

Amen

Praying for Peace - Advent 2023

Schools in Myanmar are closed. 

Faithful disciples tend to children, teaching language and numbers from life experience.

Peace be upon those who are carers in places and times of distress.

Mobs attack the vulnerable in Manipur.

The conscience of individuals falls to the press of the many.

Peace be upon those who suffer and those who accompany them.

Bitter cold companions the bitterness of broken communities in Ukraine and Russia.

People are forced from their homes, either as refugees or unwilling warriors.

Peace be upon those in the midst of warzones and those who have left them.

The birthplace of the Palestinian Messianic Jew is as unholy as ever.

The land and her people are daily crucified.

Peace be to those who birth HOPE in the midst of unwelcome rubble.

In these days of tears, we long for your coming - Bring peace, O God!

Come! Come! Emmanuel - be with us!

Yes

I have listened and I desire to hear more...

Of the stories of Land and Sky, of the Seven Sisters and the deep spirits.

I have heard fiction and 'fact', 

but I desire to hear Truths from the heart.

I live a long way away, but my heartland is the dusty red earth and the island home.

Even from a distance, I listen for the kookaburras and the magpies.

I long for the day when the shame of vulgar racial disparities is bridged, 

so that my sisters and brothers may access the same privileges as most of our citizens.

I want to hear how they can take that journey, and I commit to accompanying them.

I wish for the conversation where my imagination is grown by the ancients 

and I can bring the ift of fresh attention and respect.

The people who welcomed and adopted me, honoured and rejected my late-husband,  

giving his earthly remains and his spirit a place of resting until the renewal of all things,

so I pray that we can work together for renewal.

This is why I am voting YES.

Training in Mission Program [2023]

TIM is more than 40 year old. It is a Training in Mission program that includes a Diploma in Mission and experiential learning in field work.

This year’s TIMs will do the following:

Week 1 [17-23 June] Orientation and visits to Centenary Methodist Church, Welcome Dinner at Pacific Theological Collège, visit to Museum, general orientation, beginning our mission garden.

Weeks 2-8 [24 June-14 August] Diploma in Mission, undertaken through Trinity College, Auckland, New Zealand, with a range of international teachers.

Week 9 - Experience visits

Week 10. [30 August-2 September] Godly Play training  

Week 11/12 - Mission trip to Tuvalu [eco-justice focus]